Haunted

Being haunted is no fun. Oh, I know it can be entertaining to visit a place that supposedly has resident ghosts. But that’s not the real thing.

Real haunting happens when an old memory won’t leave you alone, whether it’s a huge mistake you’ve made, or some abuse you’ve suffered, or even a terrifying image from some movie you saw years ago. It’s like that memory has taken on a life of its own. Or maybe death would be a better word.

And sometimes we’re haunted by the repeated blunders of our ancestors, patterns of behavior passed on through the generations. Breaking free can be hard and painful work that involves naming the “ghosts”, sapping them of their power, and finding another power by which to live.

I don’t know if I've ever encountered a story from the Bible that made me step back and say, “This story is about being haunted,”… until today. Just take a look at this story from Mark’s book, chapter 6, verses 14-29, and see how Herod is being haunted by a terrible abuse of power:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%206:14-29;&version=65;

This story leaves such a gruesome picture in our minds, that I do believe Herod’s murderous choice still haunts us today. Truly haunting is this picture of the defenseless prisoner’s head on the bloody royal platter. How haunting it is that people in high places can have their way over people who are powerless.

Then why tell the story? What good does it do to keep telling this saga of a servant of God who spoke truth to power and suffered for it? What good does it do for us to tell our “ghost stories”, our stories of past suffering and horrid mistakes, if it’s just going to make us miserable to remember them?

Being haunted may not be fun, but if it prompts us to tell our stories, to take our skeletons out of our closets and air them out in the company of friends, then maybe being haunted can be the beginning of some healing.

Maybe it’s something like the way the first followers of Jesus learned to look at the haunting image of the executioner’s cross… as a place of healing, a place where God’s love trumped all abuses of power and reached out to embrace a suffering world.

There’s a lot to talk about here. I’d love to hear what you think. We can continue this conversation, both here on the blog and Thursday (July 9) 7pm at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua, where we’ll invite God into the conversation as well.

Peace,
Kari